no

I've made progress on reading this in five states, three countries, and two continents and I think that's pretty cool.

Surprisingly good! I was wary of the whole dark academia billing, as I dislike TikTok trends/aesthetics/what-have-you, but it was very enjoyable! I'm not a huge fan of fairy myth or romance, but both elements worked out well. One of the few romantic subplots I've actually enjoyed is in this book! The characters fit well together, and had a healthy relationship. The prose is deliciously descriptive, but not overbearing. I also enjoyed the in-world quotes that preceded each chapter.

Issues:

I couldn't decide on a rough time period that the book is based on, so details like television, the common use of cars, and women wearing pants in a misogynistic society threw me off. I was thinking the world building was 1920s-30s-ish, but I'm getting a 50s, maybe even 60s impression now. I really don't know. It doesn't matter much.

Lastly, Preston is just a bit too perfect. Sure, he's arrogant, but no-one ever treats their partners well all the time. I wish that wasn't the case in books or real life, but, considering the goings-on of the story, he should have at least one minor mistake interacting with Effy. On the flip side, she does make mistakes relationship-wise, making her portrayal stick out less in a book of messed-up people.

not really sure how to feel about this one! it is well written and the characters and their relationships are compelling, but also: it's confusing due to the switching POVs, and more graphic than I was expecting.

though the POV switching was often confusing, I did like how personal the short one-or-two sentence ones were. I just wish there was a better way to differentiate between Her thoughts, the others' thoughts, shared thoughts, etc.--they're all italicized! it might have worked better with small caps and/or bolding.